Shutdown cuts Glacier visitor count in half

Predictably, Glacier National Park’s visitor statistics were down substantially during the month of October, but overall visitation for the first 10 months of the year still is ahead of last year’s numbers.

Glacier was closed to visitors from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16 during the federal government’s partial shutdown. 

There were 25,965 visitors entering the park for the month, down 52 percent from the 54,127 visitors in October 2012, according to National Park Service statistics.

However, overall visitation for the first 10 months of the year was 2,164,968, up 1.4 percent from the 2,136,014 visitors during the same period last year.

West Glacier, the busiest entrance station, logged 983,793 visitors through October, a 5.2-percent increase over 935,299 in 2012.

2013 visitor numbers at other Glacier entrances were at or slightly below 2012 figures.

At St. Mary, for instance, there have been 495,947 visitors this year compared to 502,998 a year ago. The Many Glacier station recorded 274,771 visitors this year, down slightly from 275,267 for the first 10 months of 2012.